A court in Beijing recently declared that China's top media watchdog violated regulations after a film director and LGBT rights activist sued the administration for not properly publicizing the ban on online streaming of his documentary about gay men and women, the director's lawyer told the Global Times on Thursday.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court ruled that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) broke regulations on government information disclosure after Popo Fan, a documentary filmmaker, filed a lawsuit.

Fan's documentary, Mama Rainbow, was removed from video streaming websites including 56.com and youku.com in December 2014.

Fan filed a request with the SAPPRFT in February, asking it to publicize a circular he believed told websites to remove his film.

"Fan presented a recording of an employee from 56.com, who said the website removed the documentary after receiving the circular from the SAPPRFT," Wang Zhenyu, Fan Popo's lawyer told the Global Times on Thursday.

The SAPPRFT declined to release the circular and said that websites needed to censor videos on their own in an effort to "promote core socialist values," read the court's verdict.

However, the watchdog's reply was made by a division of the general office of the SAPPRFT, which the court found violated regulations requiring governmental departments to set up a unit specifically designated to respond to information disclosure applications.

The court ruled that the general division of  the SAPPRFT was ineligible both to publicize the ban and to respond to Fan's request.

The SAPPRFT could not be reached for comment as of press time.